


Sometimes Sounds are Torture

by Religious



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-24
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-07-16 12:32:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16086173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Religious/pseuds/Religious
Summary: “How can it be too intimate for me when I’ll I’ve wanted is your touch since the moment I met you?” the shorter woman replied.orAll Kara needs is some comfort, which Lena is eager to provide.





	Sometimes Sounds are Torture

Even with years of practice, Kara still hears everything she doesn’t want to. She can hear the crackle and frantic _whoosh, whoosh_ of the air as it swirls in the heat of the fire. She can hear the weakening supports of the building as part of it folds in on itself in the flames. She can hear the flashes of cameras behind her and the yells of firemen as it becomes too much for even them to handle. The crowd gathering. Screaming and crying inside of the flames. Screaming behind her as the crowd realizes that there are still others trapped inside the burning apartment complex.

“There are still people in there! We couldn’t get up to last three floors!” the captain says, yelling over the sounds of sirens and burning timber and concrete. Kara nods grimly, the top floor has completely collapsed, and whoever was in there could not have possibly survived. She can still hear three faint heartbeats on the floor below, and none on the floor under that. She grabs the oxygen tank that is offered to her, and steps forward where no one else can.

The first man she finds is unconscious- sprawled out half naked on his bedroom floor. The smoke is so thick she cannot see with her normal vision, and she uses her hearing as her eyes strain against the smoldering air. She finds an elderly woman in her bed, seemingly asleep as the fire burned around her. For a moment Kara thinks she might be alive, but the lack of heartbeat gives her away. She leaves the dead body, pulling a wall away to the apartment next door where she finds a woman huddled in a corner, eyes barely open. She picks her up easily, sliding the mask on and rescuing her from the flames.

As she hands the woman over, the building behind her seems to waver on itself before half of the next floor down drops like a sack of sand. For a second, Kara cannot hear the heartbeat anymore before it starts again, drumming like a hummingbird alongside the distinct cry of a child. The blonde launches herself into the building, wrenching burning furniture and walls and ceiling away to dig her way to the trapped child. The crying ceases as she flings a wardrobe out of the way and spots a little black-haired girl slumped in the corner. She is covered in soot, and clearly terribly burned.

“No…” she says helplessly, scooping the five-year-old up into her arms and pressing the oxygen mask to her small features. It only takes her a moment to step out into open air, clutching the small child in her arms. The crowd bellow her cheers as they see the baby freed from the flames. But her tiny chest does not move. Her heart does not beat.

“She needs a paramedic!” the blonde cries, landing heavily on the ground, desperately handing the child over to an EMT who immediately begins compressions on the body. The crowed has gone silent as they watch on as the paramedics work over the small child. Her little fingers and arms are charred, and her shock of black hair is half gone. The camera’s flash as Kara watches as the child cannot be resuscitated. She turns away from the grim scene. She has seen death before, and she still cannot bear its burden on her already heavy shoulders. She cannot bear to look. Tears gather angrily in the corner of her eyes.

She hears the little girl’s heart stutter once more before failing. At the same time, she hears a woman in the hospital nearby sobbing in relief followed by the great cry of a child heaving its first breath as it first comes into the world. She drops the oxygen tank to the ground. The moon is a waning crescent in the sky. The building continues to burn. Someone’s watch ticks rhythmically onward. The time of death is announced behind her.

“Time is 2100, unable to be resuscitated.” The paramedic says. Kara shakes her head as she takes the child up into her arms once more, rocking the small bundle in her arms as the tears finally fall down her cheeks in thick torrents.

The little girl’s name is Emily-Rose. She was five years old when she died, along with her family. She had inky black hair and eyes as blue as Kara herself. Kara keeps her school picture on her refrigerator to remember her when nobody else will, to remember the bright-eyed little girl when nobody else could. To remember the lesson she learnt that day.

Even she cannot save everyone, as hard as she tries.

She pulls the earpiece out as she flies, ignoring the voices over the transmission requesting an ETA for her return to base. She crushes the receiver in her hand and lets it fall to the ground as she flies.

xXx

She finds herself outside of Lena’s apartment, watching as Lena worked quietly on her sofa. The entire building was dim save for the dark-haired woman’s windows. Kara closed her eyes and whittled her hearing down until she could only hear Lena’s heartbeat and nothing else. A smile ghosted her lips at the peace that settled over her at the sound. Kara basked in it for a moment, though her peace was interrupted as an alert went off on Lena’s phone. Kara watched as Lena checked the alert before switching over to her displays and opening multiple channels. She leaned back against the couch, a serious look on her face as she watched the news coverage showing Supergirl crying over the body of a child.

Kara landed on the balcony, intentionally making some noise to alert Lena to her presence. The darker haired woman turned as Kara slipped though the half open balcony door. The blonde offered a half-hearted smile.

“You know, you should really lock your balcony door at night. You don’t know what menace will appear, it’s terribly dangerous.” She said, by way of greeting. Lena chuckled lightly before replying.  

“I would hardly call you a menace, Supergirl. Maybe a pleasant surprise.” Kara hummed at the shorter woman’s words. She nodded at the screens in front of them, and for a few minutes they watched the news coverage unfold as more video and pictures were aired. Lena did not say anything to counsel her friend, which Kara appreciated. She closed her eyes, zoning back into the rhythm of Lena’s heartbeat. Like many things about Lena, it soothed her greatly. Kara got the impression that Lena knew the effect she had on the blonde, even if Kara did not understand it fully.

Lena knew Supergirl and Kara as two separate entities, independent of each other. While giving the appearance of a human, the blonde still had trouble discerning how humans expressed their emotions. While she had pined for Lena uselessly since the moment she had met her, she could never tell just what Lena felt towards her. It didn’t help that the woman had a serious poker face, much like the face she was making now. The news reporter on screen flipped over to footage of Kara lifting the man out of the building.

 _“…and here we see National City’s hero rescuing one of the victims from this tragedy…”_ Kara snorted at the man’s words. She stared down at her hands, covered in dirt and soot and blood, and rubbed her fingers together.

“I feel sorry for the people in this city, they deserve to have someone who is not incompetent like me.” She said.  Lena did not reply to her words. Kara watched as she disappeared into the bathroom and returned with a damp towel in her hands. Taking the blonde’s hand into her own, she began to gently wipe the grime off Kara’s skin. She seemed to consider herself for a moment before speaking.

“The people in this city are lucky to have you, Supergirl. You care more than anyone I know about what happens in this city, and you always strive to be better.” she ran the corner of the towel over the arch of her cheek, down her neck and across her collarbones. Kara closed her eyes at Lena’s attentions. She could still hear the child’s crying in the back of her mind, she took a deep breath and once again tried to focus on the heartbeat of the woman in front of her. She breathed steadily, taking in the heady mix of expensive perfume and _something_ that was expressed Lena. She reached up, gripping Lena’s wrists and halting her movements.

“I can still hear her crying,” she whispered, her voice raw. “I couldn’t… I didn’t…. If I was just _faster._ ” She said, and her brow knotted tightly as the sounds began to overwhelm her again. Lena shook her head at the blonde’s words. She covered the blonde’s ears soothingly, stroking her thumbs across the cheekbones and curling her fingers into the golden curls. Kara covered Lena’s hands with her own.

“You are a person, Supergirl, not a God. You can’t save everybody, it’s not your fault.” She whispered. At Lena’s words, Kara shook her head and began crying in earnest. Lena shushed her quietly as the blonde’s shoulders shook under the burden of the sobs wracking her body. She ran her fingers through the blonde hair in an attempt to ease the woman’s pain. She rocked the woman back and forth as the hero seemed to crumble in her arms. Slowly, the crying seemed to ease down to a scattering of sniffles as Kryptonian tried to compose herself.

“Come now, don’t cry. Here, you’re filthy. Let’s get this stuff off, alright? Everything will be okay.” She soothed, and Kara nodded hesitantly.

“I should be stronger than this, I am sorry for being such a bother-” though she was unable to finish when the CEO cut her off.

“you’re not being a bother.” Lena said. “You’ll never be a bother to me, Supergirl.”  Instead of moving, the two women stared at each other, Lena’s hands stroking the blonde’s eyes gently as the silence was occasionally broken with quiet hiccups. Lena reached up, unclipping the hero’s black smeared cape, letting it fall into a puddle on the floor. Next, they both stripped off the blonde’s boots. Even without them, the blonde stood a head taller than the Luthor in front of her. The skirt was next, revealing a pair of blue pants underneath. Lena helped lift the top of the suit away finally revealing the Hero’s skin.

Kara wore a slimline compression bra underneath her suit, and nothing more. Lena could now see the flawless skin of her stomach as it rippled with each breath. The Kryptonian looked anatomically human, however there was something distinctly uncanny about her appearance. It was almost as if some primitive part of Lena’s brain was alerting her to the amount of strength coiled under the skin of the alien in front of her. It thrilled her and frightened her all at the same time. Kara stared down at her hands, unconcerned with her nakedness. The evidence of the night’s events gone as the suit was stripped away. 

“Sometimes,” she said quietly, “if the noises become too much, I focus in on your heartbeat and everything else seems to go quiet for a little while.” Kara offered a half smile, lifting a shoulder deprecatingly.

“Do the noises often become too much?” she asked, and Kara nodded. She thinks back to the long nights out on the farm when she had first come to earth. Everything was so overwhelming then- each sound and touch too much for her sensitive ears or skin to handle. It had been a long road to acclimating to the too loud environment of Earth. And then she had moved to the big city, were sounds and smells and touch were ever larger.

“I can hear people’s pain and suffering alongside their joy and happiness. But when I’m with you, the whole world seems to disappear. I finally have some peace and quiet.” She stroked Lena’s wrists as the shorter woman seemed to consider her words.

“I’m sorry if that makes you uncomfortable, Lena. I understand if that is too… intimate for you. Perhaps it was foolish of me to come here.” She straightened up, ready to leave the CEO and add to the rest of her failures that had accumulated in one night. Lena placed a steady hand on her stomach, the warmth of it piercing through Kara like a blade and halting her in her tracks. Her other hand curled into the fine hairs at the nape of the blonde’s neck, pulling the Kryptonian’s head down into a firm kiss.  

Lena’s lips tasted like cinnamon and a sweetened tea that she must have had earlier, and they were soft and insistent against her own. Kara thought that she would be happy to kiss Lena a million times more if it was like this. She could feel Lena’s lips curl up into a grin as Kara hummed pleasurably into the kiss. She pulled away, and Kara chased the shorter woman’s lips, making her chuckle lowly. She caressed the hero’s arms as she rested her forehead against the blonde’s collarbone.

“How can it be too intimate for me when I’ll I’ve wanted is your touch since the moment I met you?” the shorter woman replied.

“I’ve wanted you since I first saw you in your office.” Kara said, shocked at Lena’s admission. Lena hummed approvingly at the taller woman’s words.

“We have wasted a lot of time then, haven’t we?” she asked, and her tone was decidedly sultrier than it had been mere moments ago. Kara immediately felt a flush of heat low in her belly at the woman’s tone. She did not have the opportunity to reply as she was bought down into another rapturous kiss, definitely more heated than the last.

All Kara could hear was the thrumming of Lena’s pulse in her ears. The whole world had seemed to disappear and mute itself under the woman’s lips. Her hands burned and soothed simultaneously as they ran across the blonde’s shoulders and down her back. Kara moaned as Lena broke the kiss, instead opting to trace her lips down the blonde’s jaw and down the curve of her neck. Kara could not complain. Lena’s fine silk blouse had been stripped out of her pencil skirt and Kara’s hands dipped underneath the material, reveling in the feel of the woman’s soft skin as she pulled it off of the shorter woman to reveal the woman’s breasts encased in black lace. The color was stark against the paleness of Lena’s skin.

“Is this okay?” Lena asked, her teeth grazing the skin under Kara’s ear. Kara nodded quickly, her hands gripping the other woman’s waste.

“Yeah, definitely. Definitely okay.” She said, making Lena laugh. She took Kara’s hand, pulling her through the apartment into what Kara assumed to be Lena’s bedroom. The bed was low to the ground in a black frame and Kara could tell without touching that the sheets must have been a custom design and silken to the touch.  Lena unzipped her pencil skirt, and Kara stared unashamedly at the matching black lingerie the smaller woman was wearing. Lena smirked at the attention and hooked her fingers into the hem of Kara’s pants as she pulled the taller woman closer to press a kiss against her lips once more.  Kara swallowed hard as Lena knelt down to strip her pants, running her hands down her thighs as she did. Kara barely controlled her moan of pleasure when Lena took the opportunity to nip at the sensitive skin on the inside of her leg as she stared up at the blonde.

Before the dark-haired woman could kiss her once more, Kara hooked her hands underneath the shorter woman’s thighs, lifting her up easily into her arms and setting her gently down onto the bed. Settled on top of her, Kara could feel the warmth of Lena’s skin pressing against her own. She slipped her thigh into the space between Lena’s legs, which drew an immediate reaction from the smaller woman. She swallowed Lena’s moan in her mouth as she settled her weight firmly into her thigh as Lena ground down into the muscles of her quadriceps. By now, Kara could feel the dampness gathering between Lena’s legs as it spread against her thigh. Kara let Lena sit them up and tuck her fingers underneath the compression top.

“Up?” she asked, and Kara nodded eagerly and lifted her arms above her head. Lena chuckled as she lifted the top off, revealing Kara’s breasts into the cool air of her bedroom. Her nipples instantly puckered in response, and Lena could not resist taking one of the pink nubs into her mouth and nipping lightly on the sensitive skin.

“Oh, Rao.” Kara murmured, shuddering slightly in response. Lena took the opportunity to palm the other breast, her other hand guiding Kara’s hip as it began to grind down on her. Kara lowered the straps of Lena’s bra, and with a deft twist of her fingers had torn the thin fabric cleanly through. She froze for a moment.

“Oh, damn. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-” Lena tossed the bra free, cutting off Kara’s sentence.

“Don’t worry about it, I can buy a hundred of those. Come here and kiss me.” She replied, and guided one of Kara’s hands to palm her breast. Kara could feel goosebumps erupt over Lena’s skin as her fingers brushed gently over a hardened nipple. Kara can hear Lena’s heart beating hard against her chest now, a hummingbird against her ribcage.

“Are you okay? Your heart is beating really fast.” She murmurs as her lips are pressed against the soft column of the Luthor’s throat. Lena hums in response, and her legs bracket the blonde’s hips and lock her in place. Kara takes that as a positive sign, and her lips drift down the soft alabaster skin to wrap her lips around the dark skin of Lena’s nipple. Lena’s breasts are so much different than her own. They are fuller and softer, and Kara could stare at them for hours and still be enraptured. Lena’s back arches and proffers up her breasts for Kara to worship, which she willingly indulges herself in.

Lena’s breasts are not the only thing she worships that night.

xXx

It is much later on when Kara rolls heavily onto her back. The sheets are askew, half of them laying off the bed and the rest tangled up in couple’s legs. Kara has an arm thrown over her face as Lena tucks herself into the blonde’s side. She casually throws a leg over the hero’s narrow hips, and her hand traces patterns on the taller woman’s ribcage.

“Supergirl indeed.” She murmurs, her eyes half closed. Kara freezes at the woman’s words. She lifts her arm slightly to stare down at Lena.

“My name isn’t Supergirl,” she says heavily, “it’s Kara.”. Lena cracks an eye open to peer balefully up at Kara. She pats her hand against Kara’s ribcage.

“I know. It’s a pair of glasses and a ponytail, for gods sakes.” She replies, her voice weighed down by sleep. Kara stares down at her in surprise. Her eyes are closed as she talks.

“I have a genius level IQ and you slip up so many times a child would be able to tell if they cared to look.” She finished, burrowing further into the blonde’s neck. She yawns delicately as she gives Kara one last pet.

“Now go to sleep. I have a board meeting at eleven AM that I need to be awake for.” She finishes, and with that done, relaxes completely and falls asleep.

Kara stares down at her, mouth agape. Lena’s eyes are shut, and her breathing is deep and even. Her heart beats steadily in the silence of her bedroom. Around her, Kara can hear nothing else except for the soft huffs of air against her neck and the tiny shifts against her as Lena gets comfortable. The brush of Lena’s eyelashes as they flutter against her skin are comforting instead of abrasive, and Kara feels her own eyelids get heavy.

It’s the first time since she had come to Earth that she closes her eyes and finally, finally sleeps peacefully.

_Fin._

**Author's Note:**

> I know I should be writing my other fic but this has been in my head a little while. please enjoy.
> 
> I have a link to my Tumblr on my profile. Feel free to send prompts over. You never know what might appear!


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